I Read The News Today, Oh Boy: November 19, 2008

Life: Yr. End Issue-Sculpture Garden
"Monumental Head," bronze sculpture by Alberto Giacometti photographed in garden of Hirshhorn estate in Greenwich, Ct., 1973, Photographer Gjon Mili

The morning news shows are leading with today's message from Al Qaida threatening and insulting President-Elect Barack Obama. I am greatly amused to see the corporate media identify "house negro" as a racial insult, as Rush Limbaugh has been calling Obama "Barack the Magic Negro" for over a year and they have ignored his blatant racism.

Obama will appoint Eric Holder as his Attorney General, the first black AG in history. Pros: Holder has come out strongly in favor of the Geneva Conventions and against torture and Guantanamo. Cons: His corporate work, with Scooter Libby to get Marc Rich a pardon, and getting Chiquita Brands a slap on the wrist for hiring death squads to kill union organizers in Columbia. As I always say of defense lawyers, he's the best lawyer money can buy, so hopefully he will bring his prodigious skills over to the light for Obama. Here's a dailykos diary on the value of corporate lawyers.

Much gnashing of teeth from the corporate media about Hillary Clinton as SOS. Must be a good appointment then, if David Broder and David Ignatious and Thomas Friedman and Maureen Dowd are all wailing "Not Hillary!" They might get their way anyway, as Hillary is said to be unsure whether or not to accept the appointment.

Headline of the day: Texas grand Jury indicts Cheney, Gonzales

Rich, heartless bastard Mittwit Romney says: Let the auto companies go bankrupt. Yeah, let hundreds of thousands of workers eat cake. The progressive policy must be precisely the opposite. Here's a more responsible solution: The Right Way to Bail Out the Auto Industry

The Minnesota Senate recount starts today, with Norm Coleman holding a 215 vote, .008% lead. As Franken's spokesperson said, the score is 0-0 with 2.9 million votes to be counted. And as an aside, Traitor Joe Lieberman wrote an editorial for a Minnesota paper defending his pal Norm Coleman. The Senate Democrats should be ashamed of letting Judas Joe keep his committee chairmanship.

Looks like Missouri is no longer the nation's election bellwether, as McCain will take the Missouri electoral votes with a 4355 vote margin.

Republican Convention Condensed

Down to 1 minute 38 seconds:



If they put in all the "John McCain was a POW" stories, it would be 10 minutes longer.

What Is It With Republicans and Fudge?

yahoo: Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., with Sen. Lindsey Graham, R[epublican By Day, Democrat By Night]-S.C., right, speaks during a news conference in front of Schmidt's Fudge Haus in Columbus, Ohio, Thursday, July 24, 2008. As presidential rival Barack Obama toured Berlin, McCain told reporters he would love to give a speech in Germany. 'But I'd much prefer to do it as president of the United States rather than as a candidate for president.'
(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Democratic Underground: Romney at the Fudge Factory

I managed to restrain myself before I added a picture of Larry Craig. Whew.

What Digby Said

flickr/Library of Congress: Bain News Service,, publisher.
Florence F. Noyes as "Liberty" in Suffrage Parade
[between 1910 and 1915]

A popular refrain on liberal blogs, as Digby and her co-bloggers dday and tristero at Hullabaloo turn out some of the best analysis on the 'net.

Today you can learn that

a) the corporate media has it in for Iraq reporter Lara Logan, because she criticized their execrable war coverage; just like they demonized Ashley Banfield for the same.

b) shows the vote total for all the terrible bills Republicans voting unanimously pushed through for Bush -- aided & abetted by Democrats abandoning their party to join in -- and concludes: "The key to understanding how the elders define bipartisanship is recognizing that whatever your beliefs or principles, you "get things done" in Washington by doing what conservatives want you to do."

c) dday marvels at the crackpots being mentioned as serious candidates to run as veep with McCain, Bobby exorcism-conducting, criminal-castrating Jindal, and Mittwit "nuclear nonproliferation is a liberal position" Romney. "Good Lord these people are out of their skulls."

Deval Patrick, Environmentalist

(Mark Wilson/Globe Staff and Dave Fuller)

Two young bald eagles have a panoramic view of the Quabbin Reservoir from their nest, one of eight there. Photographer Mark Wilson handed a preset camera to state wildlife technician Dave Fuller, who carried it up a tree and clicked the shutter.

This is why I voted for Deval Patrick for governor. While the Boston Herald reports nothing but his spending to upgrade his offices (what did Mitt Romney care about his offices, he was NEVER IN THIS STATE. Grrrrr.) this is the kind of positive change we expect from Governor Patrick.

Boston Globe: Eagles getting assistance, but still endangered

Governor Deval Patrick banded two five-week-old bald eagles today, assisting in the effort to keep track of the endangered birds.

“I am so proud that our restoration program has helped keep these magnificent birds soaring over our Commonwealth,” Patrick said in a statement.

NYTimes: Massachusetts Law to Manage and Protect Ocean Waters

BOSTON — Gov. Deval Patrick signed into law Wednesday a measure that will establish the nation’s first management and protection plan for a state’s ocean waters.

The law sets ground rules for all offshore projects and businesses, including energy ventures and conservation areas that lie in state waters. The state controls all water within three miles of the coast, about 1.6 million acres of water.

Lawrence Eagle-Tribune: Creating 'green collar' jobs: Massachusetts groups striving for stronger position in environmental market

[I]n Massachusetts, Gov. Deval Patrick and House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi have been promoting their own green initiatives, which would dedicate $100 million over the next five years to clean-energy research and business development.

[]

Quincy Vale, president and CEO of PowerHouse Enterprises, a Lawrence company that designs environmentally friendly modular homes, said in the past, former Gov. Mitt Romney "said the right things" but didn't back up his words with funding. Gov. Patrick's administration, however, "gets it. Patrick has shown a lot more action," Vale said.

The Next Mittwit Move?

Hilarious.

H. D. S. Greenway, Boston Globe: The comeback kid of 2008

Tagg's Inheritance is Saved

BBC News: Romney suspends White House bid
Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has withdrawn from the race for the Republican party nomination for the US presidency.

Go back home to Utah, you Mittwit.

Squirrel Fryer to Broker Republican Convention

Republican Party in crisis! Couldn't happen to a bunch of more malevolent, creepy dudes. McCain, the man conservatives love to hate, won 9 states last night, but more importantly, 455 delegates; the Mittwit hung on for seven (including some that he hasn't ever declared his primary residence, imagine that), and the candidate of the religious right, a/k/a "Squirrel Fryer", Mike Huckabee, won five.

So the Republican race goes on, even though Romney is reportedly having "frank discussions" with his staff today ("Don't spend the entire inheritance!" advisor Tagg cries) and McCain has declared himself the frontrunner.

Squirrel Fryer's acolytes, on the other hand, are calling for their man to broker the convention. From your lips to God's ears. I can hear his campaign song now. "We're gonna ban some evolution, yeah, you know we're gonna change the world...."

Campaign Stuff

Library of Congress:
Suffragettes posting bills
[between 1910 and 1915]
Great all-encompassing post reviewing the prospects of Clinton and Obama in each of the 22 Super Tuesday states, Super Tuesday Preview from poblano at dailykos.

New York Times has hit piece on the Clintons on the front page this morning. Here's how it is summarized on the front page of the website: "A Canadian financier who traveled to Kazakhstan with Bill Clinton and won a big mining deal later donated millions to Mr. Clinton’s charitable foundation."

Good Morning America has acquired tapes of WalMart corporate board meetings where union busting was discussed while Hillary Clinton sat silent. (Or as one wag on dailykos noted, she "voted present" on union busting.) hat tip to redglare at dailykos.

Much speculation about what has been dubbed "The Snub", Obama refusing to shake Hillary's hand at the SOTU speech. Coverage collected here at Tennessee Guerrilla Women. Are these really the things we should be basing decisions on? Of course the corporate media loves this crap.

On the Rethugs side, AP is reporting the the Mittwit isn't buying ad time in the Super Tuesday states. Saving Tagg's inheritance and throwing in the towel. hat tip to Talking Points Memo.

Bye Bye Rudy

Rudy Giuliani (noun) is dropping out (verb) despite the broad appeal of his heroic mayoring on 9/11. Now the Republican field is down to the Mittwit, St. John McCain (the "less jobs, more wars" candidate), and Huckleberry Huckabee. Choices, choices.

AP: Giuliani to Exit Presidential Race Today

NYTimes: For Giuliani, a Dizzying Free-Fall

The more that Republican voters saw of him, the less they wanted to vote for him.

Corporate Media Ignoring Global Warming

Glacier National Park, 1925; Library of Congress
San Francisco Chronicle: Media consign global warming to back burner

The League of Conservation Voters has been tracking the number of questions asked of the presidential candidates on the Sunday news shows and the debates televised by the major networks. Of the more than 2,900 questions asked, only four have mentioned the words "global warming."

The article also lays out the positions of the candidates. The Republicans are laughable, especially that whackjob Ron Paul.

HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON

Supports a cap-and-trade system on emissions and a new $50 billion fund for clean energy, which she predicts could help create 5 million new jobs. She says all new coal plants should have to capture their carbon.

BARACK OBAMA

Wants economy-wide limits on emissions and would require big carbon emitters to pay for the right to emit greenhouse gases. Like Clinton and Edwards, he supports increasing automobile fuel economy to at least 40 mpg within 10 years.

JOHN EDWARDS

Opposes expanding nuclear power and backs a moratorium on new coal plants that don't capture their carbon. Like Clinton and Obama, he would require utilities to get 25 percent of their power from renewables by 2020.

JOHN MCCAIN

Has been a chief sponsor of a bill since 2003 to cap greenhouse gas emissions, but his measure would not go as far as some proposals in Congress in cutting emissions. He believes new coal plants should be equipped to store carbon.

RUDY GIULIANI

Says global warming is real, but he prefers voluntary measures by industry to cut emissions, rather than government regulation. He's called for more investment to boost conservation and energy efficiency.

MITT ROMNEY [Of course he has changed his position!]

Backed a state climate action plan when he was governor of Massachusetts but now says Republicans should not "embrace the ideas of Al Gore." Before the Michigan primary, which he won, he criticized "Washington-dictated" increases in fuel economy.

MIKE HUCKABEE

Supports a cap-and-trade system but has not laid out a detailed plan. He favors drilling for oil offshore and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge but only until the United States can wean itself off oil. He supported the recently passed fuel economy increase to 35 miles per gallon by 2020.

RON PAUL

Says the jury is still out on whether global warming is human-caused. He advocates markets as the best way to address all environmental problems and has proposed abolishing the Environmental Protection Agency.

Salon.com (watch ad to view): TV news is too cool
Major TV interviewers have asked presidential candidates 3,000 questions -- only six of them have been about global warming.

Jan. 28, 2008 | At the Republican debate Thursday night in Boca Raton, Fla., moderator Tim Russert asked Rudy Giuliani about global warming. "Florida has 1,200 miles of beautiful coast, which can be threatened with climate change, global warming, in a major way, as the world's population goes from 6 billion to 9 billion and the level of greenhouse gases doubles over the next 20 to 30 years," Russert said. "Yet you are against a mandatory cap on greenhouse gases. Why?" Giuliani's jumbled answer included a bevy of buzzwords such as "hybrid vehicles," "biofuels," "carbon sequestration" and "clean coal," before he asserted that U.S. industry would be "crushed" if we curbed our greenhouse gases.

Rudy is such a dope. For a more hopeful view of the future, read former Colorado Senator and Democratic Presidential candidate Gary Hart's article, touting the Presidential Climate Action Project in Huffpo, which has many links to climate research and articles. You can sign the Project's statement here.

Republicans Embrace Iraq War and Bush

Only the Republican field for the 2008 election can make batshit Ron Paul look reasonable. From last night's debate, aka Beddy-Bye in Boca:



hat tip to Hullabaloo

Everybody Hates the Mittwit

Even the other candidates.

NYTimes: Romney Leads in Ill Will Among G.O.P. Candidates

The Mittwit Gets Down

Some of his best friends are black! That's why he's comfortable enough to sing them a song he thinks they'll appreciate.

The man is phonier than a three-dollar bill.

CBSNews: "Who Let The Dogs Out?” Mitt Romney Wants To Know

As he posed for a picture with a group of young people, the typically old-fashioned Romney was relaxed enough to quote from a popular hit single from a few years back.

“Who let the dogs out?” he called out, as he stood there beaming in his shirt and tie. “Who! Who!”

Republicans and Martin Luther King: The Unvarnished Truth

wikipedia

They weren't that into him. They're still not, but they don't say so as blatantly any more.

* St. [John] McCain, a leading Republican presidential candidate, voted against the 1983 law to make King's birthday a national holiday

* Ron Paul, another Republican presidential candidate, published a newsletter that referred to the holiday as "Hate Whitey Day"

* Mitt Romney lied about seeing his father march with King [and, truth be told, also lied by saying he himself marched with MLK: "My father and I marched with Martin Luther King Jr. through the streets of Detroit."]

* 18 of the 22 senators who opposed that 1983 law -- including Trent Lott and Orrin Hatch -- were Republicans

* Vice President Dick Cheney, as a congressman, voted against a 1979 measure to make King's birthday a national holiday

* The red states of Arizona and New Hampshire, didn't recognize the King Holiday until 2000

* It took until 2000 for [Mitt] Willard [Romney]'s beloved Utah to finally change their "Human Rights Day" to officially honor Martin Luther King

* South Carolina, the reddest of red states, was the last state to recognize the holiday as a paid holiday for state employees

* Right-wing and Republican activists continue to peddle smears of Dr. King (see here, here, here, here, and here)

- Go to the original post by Blue Texan at firedoglake for links to all these Republican truths.

Mittwit Wins

BBC: Mitt Romney has won Michigan's Republican presidential primary, relaunching his campaign after second-place finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire.
Despite being caught in yet another lie (a sham photo-op with an unemployed single mom -- who turned out to be a paid Romney staffer's mother) the Mittwit takes Michigan's primary. With three different winners in the first three primary states, the Republican party's cracks are showing.

Rudy Giuliani continued his slide to oblivion, finishing behind the moribund Fred Thompson and narrowly ahead of "Uncommitted".

The Mittwit 'Marched' 'With' Martin Luther King

I'm sure you read this latest Multiple Choice Mitt claim last week. First he said his dad George Romney marched with Martin Luther King. Then it turned out that the Mittwit had claimed to march with Martin Luther King himself!

"My father and I marched with Martin Luther King Jr. through the streets of Detroit."

Boston Herald, 1978 interview (as reported by the Boston Globe)

The Mittwit was forced to admit this was not true. (He didn't admit the lie himself; he had his campaign put out a statement: 'Yesterday, Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom acknowledged that was not true. "Mitt Romney did not march with Martin Luther King," he said in an e-mail statement to the Globe.') So Multiple Choice Mitt has been a liar for decades.

On hearing the news about him claiming George marched with MLK (we hadn't heard of the Herald interview yet) my brother & I began texting each other. My brother is a better texter than me and actually spells things write (Freudian slip!) & uses capitals and punctuation.

me: & mittwit's dad marched w/ m l king - not. pathological liar

BRO: That dude will say ANYTHING to get elected

me: he's big papi's father

BRO: Paul Revere changed his name from Romney

me: planted landmines while in france

BRO: Personally tore down the Berlin wall

me: built great wall of china

BRO: Spent a decade ministering to untouchables in Calcutta

me: son of god

BRO: Freed the slaves

me: will turn hillary to pillar of salt

BRO: Once escaped from chains and straitjacket and locked trunk submerged beneath frozen river.

BRO: Invented light bulb one morning, hypothesized theory of relativity that afternoon, cured polio that night.

me: ascended to heaven afterward

BRO: Planning to come again in glory to judge the living and the dead; also making longer-term plans for "kingdom that has no end"

BRO: Wrote the Magna Charta, built the pyramids, mapped the human genome, invented astroturf

me: mittwit invents fake grass - perfect

The Mittwit: Tax-Dodging Corporate Thief

LATimes: Island tax havens factor into Romney's business success

-- While in private business, Mitt Romney utilized shell companies in two offshore tax havens to help eligible investors avoid paying U.S. taxes, federal and state records show.

The Real Mitt Romney

"He took good jobs with benefits, and created low-wage, part-time, no-benefit jobs. That's what he was creating with his investments."

- Randy Johnson, Ampad worker, fired after Mitt Romney's Bain Capital took over his paper plant.

Which is why people like Romney are rich and people like Randy Johnson are struggling. Why no non-wealthy person should even consider voting for Romney or any other corporate Republican.

LATimes: To assess Romney, look beyond the bottom line

What Romney Left Behind

Another parody ad. Living in Massachusetts is really tough since the Mittwit left us!